22 More Belatedly Return
DPAA has apparently been quite busy the past 2 weeks while I was “out of pocket”.
DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.
From World War II
• FC2 Donald R. McCloud, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 16 December 2016.
• RM3 Howard W. Bean, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 16 December 2016.
• EM3 Cecil E. Barncord, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 16 December 2016.
• FM3 Kenneth L. Holm, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 14 December 2016.
• YN3 Edmund T. Ryan, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 14 December 2016.
• SN1 Camillus M. O’Grady, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 16 December 2016.
• SN1 Harold R. Roesch, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 14 December 2016.
• SN2 Floyd F. Clifford, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 14 December 2016.
• 1stLt Francis J. Pitonyak, 8th Fighter Squadron, 36th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost on 28 October 1943 in Papua. He was accounted for on 20 December 2016.
• SSgt Byron H. Nelson, 721st Bomb Squadron, 450th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost on 25 April 1944 in Italy. He was accounted for on 12 December 2016.
• Capt Albert L. Schlegel, 335th Fighter Squadron, 84th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, US Army Air Forces, US Army, was lost on 28 August 1944 1950 in France. He was accounted for on 9 December 2016.
From Korea
• CPL Luis P. Torres, C Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 September 1950 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 15 December 2016.
• CPL Gerald I. Shepler, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost on 29 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 9 December 2016.
• PFC Thomas C. Stagg, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost on 29 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 15 December 2016.
• SGT Homer R. Abney, A Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 9 December 2016.
• CPL James T. Mainhart, I Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 12 December 2016.
• CPL Edward Pool, 31st Heavy Mortar Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 9 December 2016.
• PFC Charles C. Follese, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost on 30 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 17 December 2016.
• CPL Jules Hauterman, Medical Platoon, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 14 December 2016.
• SGT Thomas E. Zimmer, A Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 6 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 18 December 2016.
• CPL Joseph N. Pelletier, Headquarters Battery, 15th FIeld Artilery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 13 December 1950 in South Korea (see note). He was accounted for on 21 December 2016.
• CPL George A. Perreault, Headquarters Battery, 15th FIeld Artilery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 13 December 1950 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 13 December 2016.
Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your returns took so long.
You’re home now. Rest in peace.
. . .
Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of DNA from recovered remains against DNA from some (but not all) blood relatives can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.
On their web site’s “Contact Us” page, DPAA now has FAQs. The answer to one of those FAQs describes who can and cannot submit DNA samples useful in identifying recovered remains. The chart giving the answer can be viewed here. The text associated with the chart is short and can be viewed in DPAA’s FAQs.
If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a DNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.
Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.
Author’s Note: the location of loss for CPL Joseph N. Pelletier on DPAA’s website appears to be incorrect. The engagement in which he and CPL George A. Perreault were lost appears to have occurred in South Korea vice North Korea. The city of Wonju – cited by DPAA in the announcement of CPL Pelletier’s accounting as the town towards which US forces withdrew – is in South Korea. Wonju is also a substantial distance (approx 100km) from the Korean MDL and DMZ.
Category: No Longer Missing
Welcome home, men…
Tall order this one. It will take several days to learn something about the men. In the meantime, welcome back to home soil, gentlemen. You were not forgotten.
Welcome back, boys. Clear trail ahead of you now.
Welcome home, men.
Rest well.
I can only echo the others, welcome home, men. Now, Rest In Peace.
Welcome home, Brothers.
Welcome Home, Warriors, Rest In Peace. You’ve earned your place in History and Valhalla.
Welcome home brothers. Rest in peace in your home soil now. God be with your families.
Welcome home, Brothers. You were gone but never forgotten. Blessings to you and yours …
A number of these men were accounted for on 9 December. That’s my birthday.
I don’t think I could ask for a better birthday present.
Welcome home, fellas, at long last. May your souls rest in peace.
Donald McCloud was a West Virginian. He was from Logan county, coal country. In 1937, Donald said goodbye to his parents, brother, and sisters and enlisted in the Navy. A good friend of his helped him through the process of enlisting. That friend, Joseph Triolo, is 96 and lives in Illinois. It pains him to this day that he helped Donald join the Navy. The two were stationed at Pearl Harbor. Joe, his brother, John, and Donald had been on the Oklahoma together at one time. Joe transferred from that ship first and, just a couple of weeks before Pearl Harbor, John left. Donald remained. On 6 December, the old pals, Donald and Joe, went to a fleet baseball game. Afterwards, they downed some beers together at the Ford Island EM club. Joe recalls that Donald loaned him two bucks. The next morning, Joe was on a .50 and Donald was gone. God rest his soul and comfort his grieving pal.
Howard W. Bean was the elder of two sons born to Ella and Warren Bean. Howard’s brother, George, was more than a decade Howard’s junior. The family lived on Dudley Street in Boston in 1940. In 1941, Howard joined the Navy and was a radioman on the Oklahoma went it was hit repeatedly during the Japanese sneak attack on 7 December. Howard is no longer among those whose remains are nameless. Thank you, Howard, and welcome home. You were not forgotten.
Cecil E. Barncord was the only child born to Charles and Lena Barncord. As of the 1940 census, the couple lived on Chandler Street in Shawnee, Kansas. Cecil had joined the Navy in 1939 and was on board the Oklahoma on 7 December 1941. The pain his parents felt at losing him one can only imagine. The pain of not having his remains to lovingly regard and provide a final ceremony for is unimaginable. Welcome home, Cecil.
Kenneth L. Holm’s parents, Christian and Martha Holm, never gave up hope that their sailor son had not perished at Pearl Harbor, despite receiving notice saying otherwise. Their hope hinged upon the absence of his body, according to a relative, and for that reason they would not hold a memorial service for him. Instead, months apart in 1946, they joined their son. That relative, Blair Holm, attended a Pearl Harbor Survivors’ Reunion in 2006. It was there that he decided to hold a memorial service and to properly honor his uncle’s sacrifice with a headstone. Kenneth L. Holm’s funeral was held on 30 July 2008. And now, the mortal remains of that sailor are known and can join those of his parents in the Clarkfield Cemetery in Clarkfield, Minnesota. Welcome home, Kenneth. You were not forgotten.
There is only one Camillus M. O’Grady in the entire country recorded for the 1930 census. He was seven that year, with a baby sister and parents, Mary and Thomas O’Grady. The family lived in Greenleaf City, Kansas. By 1940, The O’Grady Family numbered five and Camillus had a nine-year old brother. Then came the Navy for 17 or 18-year old Camillus. And then came Pearl Harbor. Welcome home, son. You were not forgotten.
There is a DPAA error regarding the middle initial of Harold Roesch. It is incorrectly listed as R. but it is W. And changing that middle initial changes everything. Harold W. Roesch was born two days after Christmas in 1915 in Rockford, Illinois. He relocated to South Dakota and joined the Navy in 1939. He was well loved and remembered. As late as 2002 a high schooler in South Dakota wrote a remembrance of him. Never forgotten, now he can come home.
It should be noted that the Oklahoma Memorial correctly lists his middle initial as W.
Floyd F. Clifford came from a very large Kansas farm family of eight or nine children. Floyd was somewhere in the middle and 18 in 1940. He is listed as living at home as of 15 April 1940, the date of the census taker’s visit. Not long thereafter, Floyd would join the Navy and the country would be thrust into war. Floyd was aboard the USS Oklahoma on 7 December 1941. His remains were among those much later recovered at Pearl Harbor and placed as the circumstances dictated. His remains are now known and his long journey ended. Welcome home, Floyd.